About Me

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Merry Christmas (in July) Ho,Ho, Ho and a chance at a small Christmas gift

Welcome to the Christmas in July Blog Hop, joyfully brought to you by Carol over at Just Let Me Quilt . Another gathering of merry quilters wanting to share Christmas ideas with you in time for you to whip up a few for friends and family by Christmas in December. Thanks so much Carol for coordinating this event.

This is my second Christmas in July hop this year. This one is Totally different than the last. This one is 15 + interpretations of the same item. Hopefully giving you some ideas for a quick and easy gift. Sorry but it is a little picture heavy.

It started with a conversation with a quilting buddy who is an Honor Flight Guardian. She supports her guys throughout the year. She mentioned that she was going to have a Christmas luncheon for 7 - 9 of them and their quests and was looking for an idea for a small token gift.

I suggested Mug Rugs +, you know a mug with a mug rug and some treats and maybe hot chocolate or tea. We thought we would start them in the fall. Obviously I don't wait well and prompted by this hop, off I ran with the idea.

I love Mug Rugs. I think I love them because they come without rules.

There are no size constraints,

they can be bound or not,

square or rectangular.

They can be plain (sorry I don't do plain ) or busy.

They can be reversible or not, this is a picture of several of the backs

pieced, appliqued, or stitched.

A truly blank canvas to create on.

After a couple of lame starts we decided that what I would use as bare bones guidelines would be something with a Christmas front and a RWB back . As close as I could get to no rules.

I had a few ideas floating around in my head and a few stray blocks that have been started and never finished and a couple of ideas that I found drawn in my notebooks.

I used a couple of blocks to practice some machine quilting, this one around the ornaments is an example

I had been working on my scrap votex quilt so I had a lot of scraps out and about begging to be included, added on as backings, borders or bindings or as the main focus of the rug.

So I assume that by now you have a great idea for a quick and easy gift for pretty much anyone. Add a mug and some fixins and you can make a gift for any price range you may need. Toss in a gift card. Make a Zippered pouch it can be tucked into. Just have fun with it.

One last thing. I had my sister stop by to check all of these mug rugs out and explained to her what I was aiming at. She started to go through the stack of stuff I was using and found 2 stitched pieces that were going to be post cards last year or the year before and a machine stitched piece I had done a few months ago. Before she left she had me do all 3 of them into mug rugs for her.

Thanks for hanging in there and I hope I gave you an idea or 2. If you leave a comment I will be happy to send you one of these cuties. I'll pick a name on the 28th and you can tell me which one you might like (excluding my sisters, they are already long gone). I will be happy to ship internationally.

Please take a few minutes and visit all of the other participants. It will be so worth your while.

31 comments:

Well, darn, I wanted your sister's! LOL Every single one of these is so adorable, and I would be thrilled to be drawn the winner. I love that you and your friend are doing this. It's a great gift for anyone, but from working in the Veteran's home, I know that a useful gift that is also decorative is a real prize. Thanks for caring about them, and making it a better time of year for them.

You have certainly been busy! I know then vets will enjoy receiving such a thoughtful gift. Very generous of you and your friend to share your time and talent. Each and every one of your mug rugs was adorable. I think my favorite is the embroidered reindeer.

You sure did run with this worthwhile project. I have to agree with the other comments that the embroidered reindeer is adorable. I like that you used this project to use ideas from your sketch book. That's killing two birds with one stone. If the blocks aren't too big, it would be a good place to use orphan blocks, too or to try out one block from a large quilt to audition different fabrics. Thanks for participating and Merry Christmas in July.

Okay, Selina, you totally blew me away with all these "no rules" mug rug ideas. The ones your sister snatched from you are adorable! I wouldn't have thought to use a small tumbler template for a mug rug, but that is so cute. You are such an Energizer Bunny with all that you accomplish for gifts and donations. Thank you for all the inspiration you share with us with your posts! I love having you play along in the hops and have enjoyed many years of blogging with you...thank you, sweet friend!

thanks for being a part of the hop. so many wonderful ideas. i really like your idea. this will go over really big at our one christmas party. need to get started now. how fun.quilting dash lady at comcast dot net